August 2004

The following is an official statement of the policies and procedures governing comprehensive examinations offered by the MAPS program as approved by the Department of Political Science. It is the department's intention to give graduate students in the MAPS program clear guidelines concerning the nature of the examination process and the rules and procedures governing the process. Students should also consult regularly with the members of their Master's Committee, from whom they will receive additional guidance and instruction.

Rules and Procedures: General Information

Students, in consultation with their advisor, should form the examining committee by filing a Plan of Study with the College of Graduate Studies before completing 15 credits of course work. All MAPS examining committees must consist of two members from the Department of Political Science and one member from another department. Any changes in the examining committee must be approved one semester before the student sits for the MAPS comprehensive examination.

All MAPS students must satisfactorily complete Political Science 600: Research Methods and another College of Graduate Studies , competency-research tool requirement. This requirement may be satisfied by completing a graduate level, advanced statistics or public policy analysis course or by demonstrating a reading knowledge in a foreign language. This option can be satisfied by taking a graduate level foreign language course or by satisfactorily passing an educational testing service administered foreign language examination or by having a foreign language professor certify the student's reading knowledge of that foreign language.

Rules and Procedures: The Examination

The MAPS comprehensive examination will be administered fall and spring semesters of each academic year. For each semester students are to receive the examination questions at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday of the seventh week of instruction with answers to examination questions being returned by students to the Department of Political Science Office Manager by 12:00 p.m. the following Monday.

At least three weeks before the MAPS comprehensive examination is administered students are required to give notice to the Department of Political Science Office Manager of their intention to sit for the examination. Students must satisfactorily complete at least 24 credits of academic work before they sit for the examination. The students examining committee must approve any exceptions.

MAPS comprehensive examination questions reflect the course-based work of each student as designed by members of the students examining committee. Each answer to comprehensive examination questions must be submitted separately in paper form with any exceptions being approved by the student's examining committee. One original and one copy of the answers to the examination questions must be returned to the Department of Political Science Office Manager by the required time and date.

The MAPS comprehensive examination is a take-home examination. Students are allowed access to books, articles, and to their own notes with strong disciplinary action taken in cases where there is evidence of plagiarism. Students are urged to discuss preparing for the examination with examining committee members.

The student's examining committee will determine whether the student has passed or failed the examination. A student who fails the examination will have a second and final opportunity to take it on the prescribed date at which the examination is again scheduled to be given. In marginal cases, examining committees may ask students to rewrite or supplement a portion of the existing examination and then make a determination.

To further insure that the written examination reflects the understanding of the student, the department has instituted an oral examination for MAPS students to complement their written examination. The range of possible oral examination questions will cover any issues arising from the written examination. Students who fail the written portion will not be eligible to take the oral examination. Those who pass the written portion will be notified of the scheduling of their orals and advised concerning deficiencies in their written examination which they can expect to be addressed in the orals.